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HOT SPRINGS, Ark. – Western Kentucky scored the final four points of the contest off two University of South Alabama turnovers in the last 20.3 seconds and survived two late tying attempts to hold on for a 62-59 win Saturday night in the quarterfinals of the Sun Belt Conference Men’s Basketball Tournament.

The Hilltoppers move on to their ninth straight SBC semifinals at 18-15 while the Jaguars fall to 17-12.

USA fell behind 22-5 in the first nine minutes but rallied to take the lead with 4:29 left in the contest.

“Just a really hard fought game,” USA interim head coach Jeff Price said. “It was hard fought on both ends. I talked to our guys a lot about how difficult it is when you get a bye; it’s nice to get that bye if you can get through to the final, but it’s really hard to play a team that has been on the court the night before. We talked about that a lot. I think that was the reason for the early deficit. It took us a while to get in the mode and get going. We got down 22-5 and it took every ounce of energy we had to even get back where we were able to get to.”

South Alabama held a 59-58 advantage with 25.7 seconds left, after forcing a WKU miss on a 3-pointer, but turned it over in the backcourt. Jamal Crook capitalized with a layup to take the lead with 20.3 seconds remaining.

The Jaguars committed another turnover on their next possession and T.J. Price converted twice at the line for a 62-59 advantage with 9.2 on the clock.

A 3-point attempt from freshman Barrington Stevens III (Allen, Texas) was off the mark but USA kept possession with 0.5 seconds left. A final heave from junior Augustine Rubit (Houston, Texas) hit the rim twice but fell out.

“I thought it was a very good college basketball game, (with) two teams that competed extremely hard,” WKU head coach Ray Harper said. “We got off to a great start, led 22-5, and they came right back. That’s why they didn’t play last night. They had a bye. They are a very good basketball team with a premiere player in the league in Augustine Rubit.”

WKU jumped out to that 22-5 lead with to a 9-for-12 start from the floor, including making the final six shots of the run. USA, meanwhile, opened the game with misses on 16 of its first 18 shots and converted just 24.0 percent from the field in the first half.

But the Jaguars rallied and despite making just one field goal in the final 6:11 before halftime, closed the gap to 29-26 at the break thanks to holding the Hilltoppers to only seven points in the final 11:13 of the period.

The ‘Toppers maintained its advantage in the early part of the second half and back-to-back buckets from Price gave them a 43-36 lead with 12:16 to play.

An 11-2 Jaguar run over a 5:16 stretch gave them the lead for the first time all contest. Rubit scored seven of the 11 points and senior Wendell Wright (Long Beach, Calif.) capped it off with a dunk at the 6:32 mark.

Neither team led by more than two points until Price’s free throws in the final 10 seconds.

“This game was lost when we got down 22-5 and had to find a way to fight out of it,” Price said. “These guys have been unbelievable all year. They stepped up for the university and I couldn’t be more proud of them. They have been absolutely tremendous. We greatly appreciate their effort.”

Rubit scored a team-high 22 points thanks to a 14-for-16 performance at the free throw line. He also grabbed eight rebounds. Senior Javier Carter (Dallas, Texas) added 11 points.

Price paced the Hilltoppers with 22 points while George Fant contributed 18 points and a game-high nine rebounds.

“He is a good player,” Price said of Fant. “You have to front him. You can’t play behind him because he is so good with his back to the basket. Overall, I thought we did a nice job fronting him. They have a lot of weapons and guys who can shoot the ball. He impacts the game no doubt about it. The fact of the game is T.J. Price is playing really well. He is so aggressive with the ball. He got some open looks late and knocked down shots.”

NOTES: The Jaguars fall to 0-4 on Convention Center Court; they have a 4-1 mark on the Summit Arena floor… WKU is 5-3 vs. USA in the Sun Belt Tournament… South Alabama has recorded a 17-12 record for the second straight season… The Jags rallied from 16- and 17-point deficits in each of their last two games… Rubit moved into third place in USA’s single-season history with 310 rebounds and his rebounding average of 10.7 per game is fifth; his season point total of 551 is tied for 10th… Rubit jumped up to seventh in school history with 1,359 points, passing Andy Denny and Demetrice Williams, and he has 886 career rebounds, to move to ninth on the Sun Belt’s all-time list… Rubit’s 14 free throws are a new career high… Carter broke a tie with James Moore of New Mexico State to slip into 12th place in conference history with 201 career blocks… Carter had his three-game double-double streak snapped with six rebounds, but he averaged 11.3 points, 10.3 rebounds and 4.5 blocks with a 62.1 field goal percentage over his final four games of the year.

For more information about South Alabama athletics, check back with www.usajaguars.com, and follow the Jaguars at www.twitter.com/USAJaguarSports. Season tickets for all Jaguar athletic events can be purchased by calling (251) 461-1USA (1872).

—USA—